


Clarity

by Saahs



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, It will only escalate :), Klaus and Five are twins, Original Characters - Freeform, Post episode 10, Warning for later depictions of violence and horror, and technically the main focus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2019-12-25 22:49:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18270743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saahs/pseuds/Saahs
Summary: The apocalypse was barely escaped, and only by leaping back in time with their fingers crossed. Now they have a second chance to fix things; to fix Vanya, the world, and themselves. But by stepping into the past, they are met with vast consequences, which become too clear, too late.





	1. Prologue

The light of the blue cloud was blinding. Static electricity coursed its way through their bodies, slowly magnifying into full streams of lightning that served to make each of them begin to cry out; one by one, they were all screaming in pain. The electric shocks, accompanied by their bodies tearing their way through time and space, served both to make their hands spasm and try to release each other-- and tighten their grip only further. 

They screamed.

They cried.

But for as many hours that passed for the Hargreeves children to fly through the portal, it was over in the blink of an eye.

The portal screeched, and spat them down onto the ground before shrinking out of existence with a loud spark. The seven children landed in a dogpile with a mismash of grunts, yelps, and gratuitous amounts of cursing. Nothing happened around them for a long moment, unable to see or hear anything besides darkness and a keen ringing in their ears as they slugged their ways off one another.

The first to successfully push themself up was a groaning Luther, arms still looped under Vanya’s unconscious form. He peered around with his brows lifted high over his wide eyes. “Did we…” he gasped, “did we do it…?”

Another voice joined the choir of pained complaints, and Ben hefted himself to his feet, only to stumble over Klaus as he tried to reach down and help him up. “I--” Fwump. “I think we did..?”

Klaus wheezed loudly and Diego cussed as Ben landed on them. Klaus’ and Diego’s attempts to say anything was, as a result, muffled by the newfound weight that had just flopped itself upon them.

“Wha’wazzat..?” Ben’s hand pawed its way over Klaus’ face, caught in his hair (to which Klaus yelped in protest), then finally found the concrete below so he could push himself back up. A ‘Jesus Christ’ found its way from his mouth as he found himself upright, breathing in ragged and heavy gasps.

It took Luther a sharp inhale to shake himself out of his stupor, and looked away from Ben and to their surroundings. “Well… we’re not in the Icarus Theatre any more, that’s for sure.”

“Oh please,” Diego grunted, wriggling his way groggily out from under Klaus and worming over Five to find open ground, “tell us more, I couldn’t tell from all this sidewalk we’re on.” Once standing, he looked down to pat down and dust himself off. With a click of his tongue he remarked, “‘S a good thing I’m wearin’ a belt.”

That was about when the others, at least those who were coherent enough to even understand verbal language again, to look themselves over: everyone was still dressed in the clothing they had been in when they first jumped, only now they were several inches and even more pounds far too small for them. The only exception, of course, was Five, who was out like a light.

With a stammer, Luther gently laid Vanya down in the grass beside the sidewalk, and adjusted his belt before his trousers had a chance to descend. The sleeves of his jacket proved to be a monstrous pain in his ass now, so once he’d tightened his belt to the smallest it could possibly reach, he tugged it off. Offering it down to Allison, Vanya was scooped back up into his arms afterwards.

Allison took the coat, but did not stand just yet and instead covered herself while she found a more comfortable position to lie in. At first she reached for her notebook, but then her brows knit, and with caution to her voice asked, “Where are we, then?” Her gaze flicked about as a relieved smile crossed her features faintly.

A soft sigh arose from Vanya, and she reached to rub her forehead. “What…?” Her eyes slowly opened, blinked back shut, then cracked open once more to stare to the others. She was still clearly in a haze, much more than the others.

Tiny, choked sobs escaped Allison as she smiled up at Vanya. “It’s okay now, Vanya,” she said, slowly rising to her feet as she held the jacket close to herself. “We’re going to fix things. It’s going to be okay.”

As Allison drew closer to her, Vanya’s lips cracked into a smile, tears pinpricking her eyes. “You’re okay…” she whimpered. “I’m… I… You’re all okay.”

Reaching out to cup her cheeks, Allison nodded her head with a small laugh. “Yeah, we’re okay. We’re all okay, now.”

Vanya twisted about enough to loop an arm over Allison’s shoulders, and the two held each other close as they wept and laughed together. They gathered their wits, and pulled away with a sniffle and relieved giggles. Looking over her shoulder, a gasp caught in Vanya’s throat as her eyes landed on one of her brothers. “Oh my god, Ben…!”

Ben smiled back, waving to her as his eyes watered up. “Hi, Van. It’s nice to see you again.” He cleared his throat. “You know, physically now.”

She nodded her head with a trembling, “Uh-huh!” After some thought, her head turned so she could peer up at Luther. There was fear in her eyes, but not enough to stop her from saying anything to him. “Could I… could I try standing?”

With a soft nod he replied, “Of course,” and helped set her down on her feet, keeping her close just in case she stumbled. But thankfully, she held herself up well, so he stepped back from her with another nod. “There. Uh, who else is--”

“Shiiit Jesus!” Klaus keened as he bent and wriggled his way onto his front, then at last to his feet. “That was worse than the brieiewhoa’kay where are we?” He tucked his arms into his sleeveless jacket, pulling it shut over his chest. “And what season is it Christ I think my nipples are gonna fall off!”

Diego and Luther both rolled their eyes to Klaus. “Welcome to the conversation, Klaus,” Diego said. “And we’re tryna figure that part out.”

Everyone started to peer around, all save for Five still on the ground. Klaus was the one to take note of such. “We should probably pick him up, right?” Moseying over, he nudged his brother with a hand. “Lil’ guy’s fucking conked.”

He looked over his shoulder back to Luther, who took the hint easily and stepped over to kneel down and pick Five up. Standing back upright, he adjusted him to be more secure in his arms, head somewhat supported in the crook of his elbow. “Hopefully he won’t be like this for long, I have, uh, no idea where we are.”

Luther and Diego looked at each other.

That was Diego’s cue to speak up, looking around once more as he did so with his back a little more straightened. “We’re not far from town, looks like. This is just one of the neighborhoods.” His attention shifted back to the others, eyes landing on Five. “We should find cover, though,” he flicked his gaze up to the sky, “‘s either gonna rain or snow pretty soon, and some of you ain’t covered too good.”

Indeed, as the seven of them wound their way through the neighborhood, with Diego in the lead, in search of somewhere to take shelter, snowflakes began to flutter down from high above. First they were small, tiny pinpricks of white that could only be seen if one squinted. But after only ten minutes or so, they began to grow larger, thicker, and more abundant. Along the way, they spoke sparingly amongst one another, catching up with Ben and both laughing and crying occasionally. Mostly, though, they shivered.

The neighborhood was simple, but nice. Small to medium houses, with the same few designs painted differently, with several of the yards bearing trees and, in the distance, even a full forest behind the backyards of the last row of houses.

With Diego’s guidance, they found a small park with a playground, roofed eating area, bathroom, and baseball field. Allison laid out Luther’s coat, so he could set Five down on it. Without query, Klaus joined him in the oversized coat, covering Five and himself with the half of it that was not occupied.

Squatting down, Diego tightened his bootlaces and adjusted his clothes and harness to be less hindering. “Alright, we’re not far from the city now, we should take a sec to get ourselves…” He gestured to the others’ attire. “... Situated. ‘S gonna be cold as shit, so-- Klaus, you take the coat, Luther, you keep carryin’ Five, should be warm enough with you.”

Luther nodded, and Klaus sighed in relief. “You know, I appreciate you, Diego. My own oversized overcoat that serves as both a fashion statement and shelter. It’ll be just like the first three years after I moved out-- … well, actually no, all the years after.”

“Yup, you’re welcome,” he retorted absently, eyes wandering across the streets that waited for them past the playground. “Get your shits together, use the restroom, vandalize the slide, whatever. Whenever we’re all ready, we’ll keep goin’. Just don’t take too long or our asses’ll freeze off.”

“So leaderly,” Klaus murmured as he slipped out of the coat and made his way to the restroom. Five didn’t rise, but shifted slightly so his head was hidden under the coat’s collar.

The siblings all prepared, drinking shamelessly from the bathroom sinks and adjusting themselves to be better covered from the harsh cold, and set out as Diego had instructed: Klaus in Luther’s coat, Five in his arms. They weren’t quite jogging, but moved at a brisk pace to keep their blood flowing. The park was left behind, out of sight quickly as the road curved and lead towards what looked to be an elementary school.

Few cars were parked in its lot as they passed by; no sign of children or teachers even through the dim windows. “Wonder if it’s a weekend,” Luther mused under his breath.

Before anyone could respond, a gasp pierced the air from behind them, and they collectively turned their heads just in time to watch a portly woman approach them at a half-jog. She was dressed far more appropriately for the weather, with a long red coat and a knit cap brushing against her glasses. Shuffling along after her was a little dog adorned in a warm vest and bright blue booties. “What are you doing out here?”

All they could do was stare dumbly.

“Without coats! You’re going to freeze to death, where are your parents?” Her hand found itself pressed to her chest amidst her dismay. “Is your friend alright?”

Their heads turned to Five after some delay.

Klaus looked back to the woman, and his face creased to the brink of a complete and total breakdown. “We were kidnapped…”

Her eyes widened. The others’ heads slowly turned to him one by one.

Diego turned his head up to her with pleading eyes. “We have no ide-- idea where we are, we, we jumped outta their van and…” His chin wibbled.

As they all joined in with a collection of nods and whimpers of agreement, the poor woman looked on the verge of a meltdown herself. A choked sound escaped her throat and she fumbled closer to them. “Oh you poor darlings..! I’ll-- come with me, you’re frozen half to death-- what are your names? Oh, you must be so scared!”  
Scuttling closer to her like frightened ducklings, they all nodded. Allison sucked in a shaky breath and buried her face into Vanya’s shoulder as she held her close for warmth. Luther, in all his bewilderment at what was going on, looked traumatised beyond words and action. Ben stuck close to Klaus as he and Diego put on a tad of the waterworks. Five was asleep and useless.

“Come on,” the lady said, as soothingly as one could manage when two inches from bawling, and lead the poor miserable and completely honest children across a nearby walkway. As she toddled along, Diego looked over his shoulder to the others and whispered, “Fake names.”

Just in time, as the next words out of her mouth were, “What are your names? I’ll contact the police once we get to my house.”

Diego snapped his attention back to her and stammered out, “Dante.”

“Annie,” Allison said.

“Valery,” Vanya added right after Allison.

Luther stumbled some but managed, “Lu-- Luke.”

Klaus sniffled. “Keelan.” He pointed to Five and added, “This is my brother, Filip.”

“Bastian,” was Ben’s answer.

Nodding her head fervently with each name, the lady stuttered. “O-o-okay, ohhh you poor dears, don’t worry we’re almost there. Is, is uh-- Filip? Is Filip okay?” She peered back at “Filip”, still a limp noodle in Luther-- Luke’s arms.

Keelan nodded his head. “Yeah, he’s just-- he’s just really tired.”

“He saved us,” Annie murmured. “It was his idea.”

They grew quiet for the rest of the trip, exchanging little more than spare, tired glances to one another as they reached their savior’s house. It was small, but well maintained with a garden that took up most of the yard that looked pretty even in the harsh weather. She opened the door and let them in one by one, taking one last peek out at the streets and school across the way before closing it behind her.

Quickly, she ungloved her hands and hung up her hat and coat. “Wait right there, I have some warm clothes you can put on.” With that, she kicked off her boots and hurried down the hallway, the sound of sniffles following her as she zipped into one of the unseen rooms.

Without moving or speaking, the six took in their new surroundings and shook out the last of their shivers as they adjusted to the room’s warmth. Like the yard and its owner, the living room was simple but lovely, decorated in a way that could only be described as pretty and comfortable. Rich browns and soft burgundies adorned with golden floral embroidery seemed to be what made the woman feel most at home. And now, in the home of a stranger and in a time that didn’t quite belong to them any more, the Hargreeves children thought about where they were supposed to go from there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you for reading the first instalment of this roller coaster. This is a work-in-progress between me and my fiance (who sadly does not have an account), and the first fic I've written that will have multiple chapters, so. OH BOYE.
> 
> Song track:  
> "Winter Is Here" Ramin Djawadi (chapter's main music)


	2. The First Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a strange, familiar dream, Five wakes up and is soon met with a major problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for claustrophobia and existential themes for this chapter.

There was nothing. No light, no sound, and no one there with him. Endless twisting tunnels, so close up against him he could barely wriggle his way through them. Ragged breaths heaved from his chest, left unheard yet burning his throat and lungs all the same. He couldn’t tell how long he’d been squirming his way through, not really. The longer he tried to keep track, the more it felt like he’d been there forever, and had only just arrived. It drove him up the walls. Nothing. Nowhere. No one. It was always the same.

And there it came. The sudden turn in the tunnels that brought him to a near perfect downward crawl. He didn’t fall or slip. It took just as much strain and effort to move now as it had before. At first, of course. The moment came when the suffocating, crushing pressure fell away, and he was left to float in pure emptiness.

His worries and thoughts drifted far from him, leaving him alone as winding streams of blue light flowed through the endless air. Snaking around one another, avoiding others, devouring each other and fusing and splitting. Slowly, each stream coiled up, spiralling together until they were a series of circles, rotating in separate directions and yet still, as one.

Time.

Such a confusing thing, but beautiful to watch when you stopped caring to understand it.

It was rare, so rare, but every time he was graced with this experience, he tried to observe, learn. Understand. This time? He was tired. He just wanted to rest. And this abyss, filled with nothing but the threads of time itself, was the most peace he had felt in decades. So this time, he would just appreciate the moment for what it offered. If he closed his eyes, he could still see the clockwork of streams. Small threads were splitting out, forming symbols briefly then sinking back into the cycle. He didn’t try to understand their meaning or memorise them. He didn’t take it for granted. All he wanted out of this was the comfort being here was already bringing him. Nothing else mattered. None of this mattered.

His mind floated on, wandering closer and closer to the centre of the flowing rings. The glow of their light, he assumed, would have been blinding in the physical world. The real world. But here, now, it was only beautiful. It wasn’t real, just beautiful.

Slowly, his body faded away, all physical senses melting into something… more. At first the gradual transformation frightened him, but his mind adjusted to its new state easily, and once more he was alone with time and peace. He no longer had a mouth, but he was smiling nonetheless. It wasn’t the pull of muscles in one’s face any longer, but the feeling of flight that fluttered through his emotions, leaving them a little cooler, calmer.

A part of him reached out, a segment of his very soul stretched out to trace the surface of time’s flow. His mind sank into the luminescent stream. It felt… magnificent.

Realisation drifted upon him soon after that, he wasn’t sinking into the time continuum. It was merging with him. Once more fear bubbled up, but for once, just once, all he wanted was to let this endless and limited peace to overtake him entirely. So he let it.

The light remained, pulsing out of him with a heartbeat he couldn’t wrap his head around. It was alright. It was his heartbeat. It was meant to be this way. The feeling of his soul taking physical form again seeped back into him, limbs and lungs adjusting once more to the nothingness surrounding him. He opened his eyes, and looked at the reflection of himself that now looked back.

And then, in that moment, he understood everything.

Five’s eyes cracked open. Something soft and warm was draped over him, his head was propped on a pillow, and he was met with unfamiliar surroundings but familiar faces. Six of them, in total. The peace he’d felt in his dreams faded quickly, and he cursed to himself as memory of the dream itself slipped out of his grasp.

Ignoring the fuzzy pressure that ran up his nose and threatened to smush his brain, he pulled himself into a sitting position, shifting the blanket off his shoulders. His movements drew the attention of the tallest of the six. The blonde boy turned his head to him, and smiled in relief before nudging the brunette girl next to him. She glanced up in turn and sighed, the corners of her lips pulling up a little.

“Guys,” she started, “he’s awake.”

The other four turned their heads as well, but their reactions were completely left in the dust as one individual darted to Five and hooked him into a tight, bony hug. “Hey, dude!” Klaus exclaimed with a weak chuckle.

All Five could really prevail in doing was pat him on the back and wheeze out a hum, “Hi there.”

Pulling away, Klaus gave his shoulder a sincere pat and announced with even more sincerity, “Welcome back to the land… of the conscious. My condolences.”

Five took in his brother’s facial features-- similar to his own but softened without the presence of a perpetual grimace-- then the others’ with his brows creased in thought. All of them were, plain and simple, young teenagers again, though they’d since changed into warmer clothes. At the very least, he’d sent them somewhere. Or rather, some time. And they were in a house, clearly, which meant they’d avoided the apocalypse for now. That was enough relief for him to relax. “Good. Where are we, who are we with, and has anyone said anything stupid to them?”

“Oh, right--” Klaus cleared his throat then lowered his voice. “We’re, uh, we were kidnapped, but we got away from our captors. Your name is Filip.” He twisted about to re-introduce everyone, “Annie, Bastian, Luke, Dante, Valery, and I,” there was the dramatic hand to his chest, “am Keelan.”

Ah. So they’d all said something stupid. He nodded with a tight smile. “Alright, I can work with that,” was all he said on the matter. Klaus just smiled back sweetly. Five refrained from swatting him upside the head.

Sucking in a breath, he rubbed his fingertips to his temple to work away some of the pressure just under his skull. His mouth opened to say something, but clamped it shut as the sound of a stranger’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Oh! You’re awake, thank goodness I was getting worried.”

Five watched as a round, kind woman with red hair hurried her way out of what he assumed was the kitchen. “Your brother and friends told me what happened. Oh, you poor dear! Soup is almost ready, I hope you’re hungry.”

It was time to put on the teenage britches and pretend waking up after barely escaping with his life was an average Tuesday for him. The harsh scowl on his face melted away. Mostly. “Uhm.. yeah, yeah I am. Thank you.” He kept his head low, occasionally shooting a glance her way.

“This is Dannie, by the way,” Allison added, gesturing to the woman. “She’s going to help us get back home.”

Five and Allison held a conversation through a half glance. He nodded his head and smiled to Dannie.

She smiled back of course, first to him then to the others. “I’ll let you know when it’s ready, okay?” Dannie turned and headed back into the kitchen.

The children’s head swivelled back to one another. “Alright, we shouldn’t stick around for much longer,” Diego muttered before Five could speak up, “we’ll eat, let her get on the phone then we’ll get the hell outta here--”

“Wait, we’re just going to eat her food then bolt, with clothes that don’t even belong to us?” was, of course, Luther’s objection.

Five, Klaus, and Diego rolled their eyes. “Yes.”

Luther’s head jutted back. It reminded Five of a flabbergasted turtle. He arched his eyebrows at him, waiting for him to continue his protests. He didn’t, which Five was sure everyone appreciated just as much as he did. “Good,” he sighed, sitting back and flipping the blanket off his lap. To both his relief and chagrin, he was still in his uniform. So he folded the blanket up nicely for easy grabbing when the time came to leave.

It wasn’t long before Dannie returned, a bowl in each hand. “Here we go, potato soup,” she murmured, setting the two bowls down just on the inside of the circle the seven had made of themselves. Jumping back upright, she turned and said, “There’s enough for seconds, too.”

Once she’d brought out all seven bowls of soup, they tucked in quietly. Each one was surely thinking hard. Five was, he knew that much for certain. Diego seemed to be in charge at the moment, which hopefully meant he had a decent idea of where they’d been spat out. By the hot soup and the mass of white which took up everything he could see through the front window, it was snowing heavily outside. The blanket would have to do. Each time his mind jumped from one aspect of their current plans to the next, it wandered slightly, searching for the distant comfort he couldn’t put his finger on any more. What was there, in the back of his mind, that was so soothing he was almost in pain from being unable to reach it?

Five shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to daydream. They had to find somewhere else to hide, avoid authorities, and figure out how they were going to go about fixing… everything.

His mind returned to reality at the sound of Dannie picking up the telephone. His head popped up, and he quietly set his bowl aside on the table sitting by the couch. “Time’s up,” he hissed under his breath to the others.

Diego nodded, and flicked a hand towards the front door before scuttling his way over to it. Five and his siblings all followed after, quick and quietly slipping their shoes back on and grabbing Luther’s coat while Diego cracked the door open. Slowly, he opened it wide enough for them to slip out one by one, holding the storm door open until they were all outside, then clicked it shut gently.

And then they bolted.

The snow was thickly layered, and was only building up more with each fat snowflake. It hindered their sprint, but not enough that they couldn’t get out of any possible line of sight from Dannie’s house. It wasn’t long until Dannie’s distraught cries filled the distance between them, but if she decided to give chase, she never caught up. Once they were more safe, Diego up at the front slowed to a brisk march.

This certainly wasn’t the worst weather Five had been in. It would have been better with a little more than a school uniform and a pilfered blanket, but he made no complaints about it; what they were doing was significantly more important than his comfort, and if it reached a point where his safety was in danger, Luther’s coat had room for two.

Which was where he gravitated towards by the time they’d reached the outskirts of the neighborhood, scooting his way under the bulky coat next to Klaus. His brother nodded to him as he made himself comfortable, to which he nodded back and returned his attention to the trek ahead of them. Their surroundings were becoming more familiar looking, none of the buildings specifically but rather the style of architecture-- less suburban, less space between the buildings, and many looked more like they had been standing there for a good handful of decades at the very least. That was more like it.

As they made their way further into the city, an even more familiar car came into view, turning towards them from around a corner. It was far enough that Five couldn’t make out the faces of the people inside, but it was absolutely close enough for him to see ‘HERMES’ proudly presented on the license plate. Sucking in a hiss, he darted out of the coat and tugged Diego aside and ducked back out of sight behind a wall. By the look on Diego’s face, and the near complete lack of protest, he’d spotted the same. Whether the others did, Five didn’t care so long as they followed after them.

“This is going to be hard to explain to dad,” Luther mumbled as he and the other four joined them in hiding.

Five weaved past the group, peeking just around the building’s edge to watch the car. As the vehicle passed by, he could spot the distinct profile of Reginald, but more importantly, there were others in the car with him. He counted the number of passengers in the back seats.

His stomach fell. “... It’s going to be worse than just explaining.” He turned back out of sight and peered at the others. Already the sting of panic and shame in his mistake was making him feel sick. “There’s seven people in the car with him.”

His siblings stared at him. None of them said a word.

Klaus leaned past him to get a look at the car. “It looks like they’re stopping over there,” he murmured as Five tugged him back out of line of sight with a low grunt.

“Where they’re going and stopping isn’t important.” Five eyed his brother hard, then gave the same look to the others. “We cannot be seen by dad. We probably shouldn’t be seen by--” Jesus, he was going to have to wrap his head around this in an entirely different way now-- “By ourselves, either.”

Ben snuck past him and Klaus, avoiding being grabbed much to Five’s ire. “They’re getting out now.”

“Would you tiptoeing morons stop taking a peek?” Five hissed, pulling Ben back a good couple of yards behind the wall’s cover. “If we’re seen we could be in deep shit.” He glared at each person. “Got it? We _can’t_ be seen right now.”

That clearly wasn’t clear enough an explanation for Ben, as he leaned backwards to get just a hair of a look past the wall’s edge. “But… there’s two Vanyas now, right?”

Oh good lord. Five’s stomach, which had already been on fire for the past three minutes, was about to make friends with his throat.

Ben looked back at him. Oh no. Here it came. “Two Vanyas. Two people that need help. Right?”

The group looked at one another. Save for Five, who kept his eyes fixed on Ben. He was pretty sure if he looked anywhere else, whatever he laid his eyes on would get a fist through it. “I--” He took in a ragged breath and released Ben’s coat, rubbing his temples. “This isn’t what was supposed to happen,” he found himself whispering under his breath, but then added more audibly, “I need to think this over. Alright?”

Whether the others said anything or at least nodded, Five wasn’t paying attention. He needed somewhere quiet, where he could calculate what had gone wrong. More importantly, he needed to figure out whether interacting with this other set of his siblings would have an impact on the time continuum. His guess was ‘of fucking course it would’, but if they could pull it off without completely shattering it, then-- Ben was right. They had to help this Vanya, too.

A hand on his shoulder yanked him out of his brain and he jolted, elbow hiking up halfway to knock whoever was grabbing him off. But his head had moved quicker than his arm, and he lowered it so as not to snare Diego’s arm in his own.

“Whoa hey,” Diego started, loosening his grip on Five. He couldn’t tell what he ought to feel about the look on Diego’s face; brows creased up and gaze serious but soft.

He decided he didn’t like it.

Diego glanced back to the others then back to him. “You can think as long as you need to, but we gotta find shelter first. ‘S too cold out here.”

Five took a moment to relax his jaw before nodding his head.

“Okay,” Diego started, leading him over to the others. It took every ounce of Five’s will not to shrug him off, and yet he failed not to do so any way. Diego continued, “Okay. There’s a vacant building a few blocks from here.”

Veering past the others, he looked around the corner then over his shoulder to Five. “You feel up to a blink or two?”

He nodded his head.

With a nod of his own, Diego beckoned them all to follow after him. “Car’s gone, we’re good to go.”

He lead them around the building’s corner, and they hurried down the sidewalk with no small amount of strange looks shot their way. Five kept his head low, and thankfully so did the others. People would recognise them like this. Luckily for them, except for Luther maybe, they were all short. Easier to obscure their faces.

Store after store, stranger after stranger, the siblings marched down the sidewalk towards the building in question. It wasn’t standing on its own, much like a majority of the other shops surrounding it (including the two sandwiching it), and the front had wide windows, but it still had quite a few shelves standing inside.

Diego sidestepped to give Five room to approach the door. “After you,” Diego chimed, gesturing to the door.

Five didn’t even walk up to the door. His head canted to the side in a small jerk, and with one last look shot at Diego, he blinked past the glass barrier. A flash of blue as he stepped from here to there, and then he was looking at the others from within a dark room. He wasted no time in reaching for the latches that kept the door locked, turning them to the left then pushing the door open for his siblings to file inside.

Diego slipped in last, keeping an eye out for any passerby that might find their activities to be uncalled for right up until the door was shut behind him and they had all scurried to the back of the building. “Alright okay, this’ll do for now.” He looked at Five.

And he nodded to him in appreciation. It was going to be much easier to think while he wasn’t shivering his ass off.

“Okay. Lemme know when all your ducks are in a row, yeah? I got somethin’ I’ll need your help with doing.”

Taking a seat on an abandoned stepping stool, Five peered up at Diego. “... And that would be..?”

“Shopping,” was Diego’s chipper answer. “If we’re gonna keep hidin’ from good ol’ dad, especially in this weather, we’re gonna need a lot more supplies than we got.”

Five scoffed. “Is that all?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Track:  
> "The Promised Land" FFVII: Advent Children (Five's dream)  
> "Undertale" Undertale (Dannie's home)  
> "Winter Is Here" Ramin Djawadi (Out in the snow)


	3. Discounts on Discordia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diego and Five go on a little shopping trip with exactly zero money. What could go wrong?

It hadn’t taken Five as long to get his shit together as Diego was anticipating. While he’d certainly etched some equations into the floor’s dust, it only took up a back corner of the room, and it all worked out really; Five had kept to himself long enough for Luther to move the shelves around to give them more cover. It was as if destiny was telling them all something. Not that Diego was listening to destiny to tell what it was saying.

So when Five approached him with an odd look on his face, he couldn’t help but pop his brows up, arms crossed over his chest. “You good?” The answer was probably obvious.

The answer didn’t come. Diego eyed him as he hesitated, but Five spoke up in a low tone before he could remark on his behaviour, “We should go take care of that shopping.”

A part of Diego wanted to pry. The other part knew that would only serve to make him less agreeable than he already was… Which only fueled the former part’s ambitions. “You didn’t answer my question.” It was hard to loom over someone who was only an inch shorter, he suddenly realised, not that it stopped him.

The second Five’s jaw tensed, he readied himself for the fuse to blow, and didn’t ease back when Five leaned towards him with a curl to his upper lip. “I’ll get back to it later, do you want to go rob a goddamn store or not?”

The corner of Diego’s mouth quirked up. “Can’t even check on my own brother, can I,” he prodded, but shrugged. “Alright. Let’s do this.”

He hadn’t even finished his last word before Five was limping over to Klaus. “Switch clothes with me.”

Diego blinked. He was certain that if Klaus widened his eyes any more, they’d float out of his sockets in the form of hot air balloons. “A little nippy for the ol’ switcheroo game, isn’t it Fivey?”

“You’ll be warm again in a couple minutes,” Five insisted, taking Klaus by the arm and guiding him through the back doorway; the whole way, Klaus raspberried his lips, assumably, in exasperation.

Vanya and Ben watched the twins disappear into the back room, whilst Allison peered up at Diego with a suspicious look. Luther couldn’t decide which way he was supposed to look, which Diego enjoyed watching while he stood there, waiting for Five to-- once more-- get his shit together. A small huff escaped him.

Hopefully his sense of way too fucking long was only a couple minutes, and then Five and Klaus stepped out of the back. If it weren’t for their vastly contrasted expressions, Diego wouldn’t have been able to tell which was which. On the contrary, the one dressed in a layered mismash of fuzzy pyjamas and denim was all a-scowl, while the other in full uniform was dramatically smoothing his suit out with his nose as high up in the air as he could stick it.

The sight was familiar to him. Comforting.

Turning his attention to the others huddled up on boxes repurposed as chairs, Diego sucked in a breath and went on, “Sit tight, we’ll be back.” A pause. “... Don’t do anything stupid.” He gave each one of them their own personalised look.

But he didn’t wait to tally who looked the most offended about it, instead turning to march past the wall of shelves and to the door. Behind him Five limped after, and after waiting for the coast to be clear, he opened the door only long enough for the two to slip out.

Diego huffed out a heavy breath. “Okay, I think… I think there’s a department store that way--” He wasn’t allowed to even point in the right direction before his hair was being viciously clawed at. “Whoa jesus what the fuck are you doing, Five?!” His attempts to step back were put to a stop by a hand yanking him back in place.

“The less we look like ourselves, the better,” Five insisted as he mussed Diego’s hair up horribly, followed by his own. Diego was torn between laughing at how miserable he looked and punching him in the miserable face by the time he looked back up to him. “You were saying?”

He snorted, but raised his hand again to point down the street. “That way, ‘bout a thirty minute walk from here, should be a department store.”

“Should be.”

“Should be. What, you want me to google it real quick for you? I have my phone, granted it shouldn’t exist right now so probably won’t work right--”

Five walked off. With a shrug, Diego caught up with him to take the lead. “‘S what I thought.”

On the way, Diego and Five discussed their shopping list. The walk though, which at some point changed into a jog, was uncomfortable at best, and going from running in the snow to stepping into a heated building was, in its own way, culture shock for Diego. “Jesus,” he hissed, rubbing his hands over his face to see which would regain feeling in them first.

The two made their way into the store, both ignoring the odd looks sent their way. “Still got what we talked about?” Diego hummed, eyes trailing over a rack of children’s coats.

“I’m not senile, Diego,” Five retorted as he wandered off into the wild capitalist blue yonder.

He pursed his lips. “The day you learn of the wonderful words called ‘yes’ and ‘no’...” Mumbling to himself, Diego went his own way through the numerous aisles, grabbing a magazine off the shelf as he did.

Each person he spotted was appraised, observed, before he chose which ones to approach. He kept his head low, magazine open in one hand as his shoulder nudged into the side of a round ginger woman. “‘Scuse me,” he mumbled, not taking his eyes off the magazine page.

Some more wandering was done, a couple more people bumped into, then he set the magazine aside in an aisle of toys, and veered his way for the bathroom. In the safety of one of the stalls, he pulled a wallet out of his pocket. His face pulled into a quick frown: only a couple of bucks were in this one. He left them where they were and stashed the wallet away, pulling out the next. Ten dollars, that was… a little better. They could maybe buy a whole coat with that. Diego huffed. Third wallet. Another ten, and a twenty dollar bill. He nodded, this was slowly getting to something more comfortable. The twenty dollars was plucked out before moving on. One more wallet left.

Diego slipped it out, and grinned. One, two, three hundred and twenty-two dollars in cash. Quietly, he slipped out one of the bills and the twenty-two. The wallet was pocketed once more, the money in his other pocket, before he headed back out into the supermarket.

As he’d hoped, Diego found Five in the clothing section, a couple of coats already draped over his forearm. He turned to him with an expectant frown.

“We’re good,” Diego said, eyeing the coats. “What do we got so far?”

Five dug into the coats as he counted off, “One for Luther, one for me, and one for Klaus. Only ones on sale so I grabbed them.” He stared at Diego. “Hope you have enough.”

Clicking his tongue, Diego gave Five’s shoulder a firm pat. “Don’t worry ‘bout it, lil’ man.”

“You are aware you’re a little man now, as well.”

“Out of the two of us, you’re smaller,” Diego pointed out as he turned to peruse what other coats were available. “Let’s see…”

Each coat’s price tag was checked before he took any of them out of their place. One by one, though, four more were picked out for himself, Allison, Ben, and Vanya. He started to head for the accessory aisle, but paused, and turned on his heel to Five. “Can I borrow your brain for some math real quick?”

He could see the tiniest of glints in Five’s eyes as he nodded his head up slightly. “Go ahead.”

“Okay, so I got… fourteen ninety-seven, twelve eighty-eight, fifteen twenty-four, and fourteen sixty-nine. … Nice.”

Five squinted at him.

Looking back at Five, Diego waited for him to resume.

Sniffing, Five half mumbled to himself before giving an answer, “Fifty-seven seventy-eight.” He rummaged for the tags on his collection, “Ten seventy-four, eight ninety-nine, and eleven thirty-six. So eighty-eight eighty-seven in total.”

Diego nodded, a small sigh of relief to his voice. “Okay, cool. ‘S grab some of these too.” He reached for a pair of gloves, but his arm was nudged away by Five.

He peered at him, only to be met with a terse, “Just hats.”

Diego looked him over; it was hard to pick up at the first glance, but his shirt wasn’t as smoothed out as before. Kind of bulged oddly. Two and two were put together quickly, and Diego rifled through hats with a nod of his head. Once more, the cheapest were picked out. “Okay, now we got eight sixty-six, nine forty…”

Someone was shouting near the front of the store. “... You hear that?” His head dragged up and he shifted his gaze towards the front of the store.

Five followed Diego’s gaze, a grimace forming on his features. “Yeah… that’s not good.”

A gunshot cracked out.

“Jesus!” Diego spat as he and Five both ducked low and skittered deeper down the aisle. Screams and shouts were already filling the air. Keeping his voice to a raised whisper, he shifted to Five, “We can’t wait this out. We’ve already been here long enough!”

Five licked his lips as he peered towards the commotion. “... Sounds like there’s three or four of them-- but they’re all on this side.” He jutted his head towards the other end of the store. “Keep low, got it?” Without waiting for an answer, Five quietly scuttled around the further end of the aisle.

Nodding, Diego followed suit with a quiet, “Okay.”

Having the advantage of being short made it easy for the two to creep their way across the store. But come halfway, Diego stopped. The screams were turning into blubbered pleas, and the shouts threats. “... Hey, hey hey hey Five listen.” He waited for Five to halt and glare back at him. “You take all this, blink outta here and get to the others. I gotta do some things.”

“Is now the best time to be a vigilante?” Five hissed, “We’re trying to keep a low profile, remember?”

“Yeah, but not low enough that we let innocent people get shot up,” Diego retorted, eyes still affixed to a cashier he could see past the shelves. He had his hands up, and even with facing the other way was obviously sobbing. Looked pretty young too, probably barely the minimum age to work there.

Diego looked at Five. “I got this, okay?” He didn’t wait for agreement or rejection, just shoved his portion of clothes onto Five, and quietly rushed in the other direction. The sound of Five’s protests were left ignored. He needed something sharp to throw.

* * *

Five watched Diego slip out of sight, and huffed. Fine. He wanted to play hero? That was fine. But the others weren’t waiting in a nice hotel with a furnace or anything. Adjusting the now much fatter stack of clothing, he turned back towards his destination.

He kept low, sneaking around crates and aisles to keep out of sight as he drew closer and closer to the other end of the supermarket. He ducked behind the vegetable stand and peeked around the corner. The doors were in sight, now. If he kept a good grip on the coats, he could make it without leaving any of it behind. Five nodded to himself and took in a steady breath. This was a lot of stuff to blink with at once--

Seven more people filed in through the door. They all had guns.

Five’s jaw clenched. “Shit.”

Shit indeed. There were more people than Diego should handle at once. Cursing a few more times under his breath, Five dropped the coats and hats in a haphazard pile. Could the day get any more fucked? It wasn’t an invitation. He stepped into the aisle behind him. Rows and rows of canned goods. Perfect. One for each hand. With makeshift weapons in hand, Five snuck back out into the fruits and vegetable section.

The seven robbers hadn’t gotten too far into the store yet, but they were heading towards the registers on the other side. Five could hear the chaos Diego was causing down there. Waiting until all their backs were turned to him, he steered up behind them, blinking into the air above the furthest back one.

A flash of blinding blue-white, followed by an endless yet instant darkness, and then he was falling towards the robber. The man turned his head just in time for Five to smash both cans into the sides of it. His skull cracked from the impact, but Five didn’t wait for him to collapse before charging the next, crashing a can into their knee hard enough to bend their leg the wrong way.

Once the second person was down, he dropped the cans, yanked the gun from their grasp and shot at the next robber. Blood spurted from their throat and they fell to the floor, gurgling. Now the other four were getting the idea to maybe shoot at the kid.

Five blinked behind the group, aiming his pistol at the closest one and firing a shot into their spine. They cried out and stumbled to their hands and knees, falling onto their side by the time Five was ducking around the remaining three. A shot rung out, tearing through the robber he’d just yanked into place in front of himself. Reaching around the buckling man, he shot at the one who’d just committed friendly fire.

His meat shield was shoved to the side, and he lunged at one out of the pair left standing. Knocking his legs straight out from under him, the thug’s shot fired into the floor instead of a person, and Five slammed him into the wall. He aimed his pistol at the man’s throat--

CRACK.

A snarl ripped from Five’s throat as something punched through his left thigh hard. The throbbing pressure shot up into his gut. Another shot grazed his left arm; it would have been worse had he not been keeling over slightly from the pain. Baring his upper teeth, Five aimed and shot at his assailant.

The shot was off. He sucked in a breath and rolled off the struggling thug, just in time to avoid getting shot in the face by him. Righting himself in a kneeling position, Five shot his last bullet into the downed man’s face instead, and switched guns out with the fresh corpse’s.

Another shot, barely rendered a graze across his shoulder, then Five jerked around and shot the last robber straight through the eye.

With a grunt, he hefted himself to his feet, long enough to approach a couple of the bodies and tug the bandanas hiding their face off. And then he dropped down again, thigh hiked up so he could dress the bullet wound. Thankfully it didn’t hit bone, and it wasn’t bleeding as badly as it could.

He pushed himself back up, head lolled back as he steadied his breathing and eyes landing absently on the administrative windows looming over the store. His brows furrowed; a woman was standing close to the window, looking towards the register end of the store. And she was writing in a notebook. That… wasn’t right. Nor was it okay. He took no chances, aimed the pistol at the woman, and fired twice, shattering a section of the window. The first shot didn’t down her, but the second looked like it hit the head. Satisfied, Five looked around for any other threats.

Save for workers and customers alike huddled and cowering, the coast was clear. Breathing heavily, he limped his way towards Diego’s end of the store. Things were quiet coming from over there.

It was a little jarring to see another preteen, smudged with blood and brandishing an even bloodier long-reach lighter, instead of a full grown man smudged with blood brandishing an even bloodier lighter, marching in his direction. “Five, what the hell? I thought you were--”

“They had friends,” Five interrupted Diego, looking him over for any injuries then taking him rough by the sleeve and limp-guiding the both of them towards the pharmaceutical section. “How bad’s your arm?”

Judging by the noise Diego made, he was poking at the gashes on his arm. “Could be better, ain’t too deep though.”

A short hum huffed out of his chest. “Good enough.” Finding what he was looking for, he lead Diego into the first aid aisle. “Patch your shit up and grab some extra kits,” he muttered, grabbing a kit and some bandages for himself and setting down to take care of his wounds.

But once he was finished and hefting himself up to keep going, a hand pulled him back by the shoulder. “We’re in deep shit if we’re seen,” Diego warned from behind him.

“Then don’t be seen,” was his response. “I’m getting our shit. Meet me behind that strip mall we passed by.”

He could hear Diego muttering, “Jesus Christ,” as he blinked back to the pile of coats. His legs gave out slightly as he landed, but luckily said pile of coats was there to keep him from collapsing entirely. Keeping his breathing as calm and quiet as possible, he gathered the coats and bundled the hats deep in them to ensure none could slip out. His legs wobbled more as he stood upright. “Shit.”

Looking down at his burden, doubt trickled into the back of Five’s mind. He was tired. He wasn’t bleeding out any more, but fuck he was tired. The sound of people chattering snapped him out of his daze. Hissing through his teeth, his eyes clenched tight, and he stepped through again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Just a small update: I'll be adding a song track for certain scenes at the end of each chapter from here on out. This has already been added to the prologue and first chapter.
> 
> Song Track:
> 
> "Don't Get Me Started" WildStar OST (Department store)  
> "Dandy" Parov Stelar (POV switch to Five / the fight)


End file.
